The Hebrew word "Pesach" means "to spring, jump or pass over" something; hence the English name, Passover. This is a historical reference to G-D's deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt, as recorded in Exodus. Passover is rich in the symbolism of the Messiah's death, burial, and resurrection.
Passover clearly typifies redemption in a dramatic way. It is a holy day commemorating G-D's deliverance of Israel from the slavery of Egypt. Yet, Passover also holds a greater prophetic picture of G-D's plan for world redemption.
A structured order of service was developed into the Haggadah, a booklet that retells the history and significance of Passover. The Passover seder is a ceremonial dinner centered around reading the Haggadah. Most Jewish communities outside Israel celebrate the seder the first two nights of Passover (the 15th and 16th of the Hebrew month of Nisan).
The seder is the focal point of the celebration of Passover, yet it is an eight-day holy day. The Torah says we are to remove the leaven from our homes and eat matzah during this time.
Click here to learn about Preparing Your Home For Passover Dates:Sunset of April 22nd through nightfall of April 29th, 2024
No Work Days:Sunset of April 22th through nightfall of April 23th, 2024 (1st Day)
Sunset of April 28th through nightfall of April 29th, 2024 (7th Day)
Future Dates:Sunset of April 12th through nightfall of April 20th, 2025
Sunset of April 1st through nightfall of April 9th, 2026
Sunset of April 21st through nightfall of April 29th, 2027
Sunset of April 10th through nightfall of April 18th, 2028
Sunset of March 30th through nightfall of April 7th, 2029
Seders:Instead of a Community Seder this year, we are encouraging everyone to invite friends to their homes for seders during Unleavened Bread.
Biblical References:“Now Adonai spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, “This month will mark the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family, one lamb for the household...You must watch over it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight. They are to take the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the crossbeam of the houses where they will eat it. They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over a fire. With matzot and bitter herbs they are to eat it...You are to eat it in haste. It is Adonai’s Passover.” Exodus 12:1-3, 6-8, 11b TLV
“Three times in the year you are to ce-lebrate a festival for Me. You are to observe the Feast of Matzot. For seven days you will eat matzot as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Aviv, for that is when you came out from Egypt. No one is to appear before Me empty-handed. Also you are to observe the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors that you sow in the field, as well as the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your crops from the field. Three times in the year all your men are to appear before Adonai Elohim.” Exodus 23:14-17 TLV
“These are the appointed feasts of Adonai, holy convocations which you are to proclaim in their appointed season. During the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is Adonai’s Passover.” Leviticus 23:4-5 TLV
“On the fourteenth day of the first month is Adonai’s Passover. On the fifteenth day, there is to be a feast. For seven days, matzot will be eaten. You are to hold a sacred assembly on the first day. You are not to do any laborious work...On the seventh day, you are to have a sacred assembly, and you are to do no laborious work.” Numbers 28:16-18, 25 TLV
“Observe the month of Aviv and keep the Passover to Adonai your God, for in the month of Aviv Adonai your God brought you out from Egypt by night. You are to sacrifice the Passover offering to Adonai your God, from the flock and the herd, in the place Adonai chooses to make His Name dwell. You are not to eat hametz with it. For seven days you are to eat matzot with it, the bread of affliction—for you came out from the land of Egypt in haste. Do this so that all the days of your life you will remember the day when you came out from the land of Egypt. No hametz should be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day may be left overnight until the morning. You may not sacrifice the Passover offering within any of your gates that Adonai your God is giving you. Rather, at the place Adonai your God chooses to make His Name dwell, there you will sacrifice the Passover offering in the evening at sunset—the time of your coming out from Egypt. You are to cook and eat it at the place Adonai your God chooses, then you will turn around in the morning and journey home. For six days you are to eat matzot. On the seventh day there is to be a solemn gathering for Adonai your God—on it you are to do no work.” Deuteronomy 16:1-8 TLV
“Now on the first day of matzah, the disciples came to Yeshua, saying, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and tell him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is near; at your house I am to keep the Passover with My disciples.”’” The disciples did as Yeshua had ordered them, and they prepared the Passover.” Matthew 26:17-19 TLV
“The disciples went out, came to the city, and found just what Yeshua had told them. And they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, He came with the Twelve. As they were reclining and eating, Yeshua said, ‘Amen, I tell you, one of you who is eating with Me will betray Me.’” Mark 14:16-18 TLV
“Now His parents were going every year to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. When He became twelve years old, they were going up according to festival custom.” Luke 2:41-42 TLV
“Then came the day of matzah when the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Now Yeshua sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, so we may eat.”...So they left and found just what Yeshua had told them, and they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Yeshua reclined at table, and the emissaries with Him. And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will never eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Luke 22:7-8, 13-16 TLV
“The next day, John sees Yeshua coming to him and says, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” John 1:29 TLV
“Now when He was in Jerusalem for the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, seeing the signs He was doing. But Yeshua did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all men. He did not need anyone to testify about man, for He knew what was in man.” John 2:23-25 TLV
“It was the Day of Preparation for Passover, about the sixth hour. And Pilate said to the Judean leaders, ‘Behold, your king!’ They shouted back, ‘Take Him away! Take Him away! Execute Him!’...Then they took Yeshua. He went out, carrying His own crossbar, to the Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two others, one on each side and Yeshua in between...After this, when Yeshua knew that all things were now completed, to fulfill the Scripture He said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar full of sour wine was sitting there, so they put a sponge soaked with the sour wine on a hyssop branch and brought it to His mouth. When Yeshua tasted the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. It was the Day of Preparation, and the next day was a festival Shabbat. So that the bodies should not remain on the execution stake during Shabbat, the Judean leaders asked Pilate to have the legs broken and to have the bodies taken away. John 19:14-15, 17-18, 28-31 TLV
“Your boasting is no good. Don’t you know that a little hametz leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old hametz, so you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened—for Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast not with old hametz, the hametz of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread—the matzah of sincerity and truth.” 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 TLV
“By faith he kept the Passover and the smearing of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as if on dry ground. When the Egyptians tried it, they were swallowed up.” Hebrews 11:28-29 TLV